Review: Toshiba Tecra A4 First-Impression

[reflexmee]

Toshiba Tecra A4 First-Impression Review

First, I'd like to thanks all those who've provided valuable information on this forum to make my pre-purchase research experience a positive one! :) That is my main motivation for typing up this review, as I hope this would aid future buyers, especially the Tecra A4.

Alright, now to the laptop review!

Usage of laptop
This is my first laptop and I plan to bring this to college on a frequent basis. Being a budget oriented student, I was particulary looking for a reliable laptop that hopefully won't break down easily and will last me for at least 2 years. Major school usage includes preparing powerpoint presentation on a regular basis, word procssing, a lot of excel work and of course surfing the internet. As I work in a radio station, I will also use my laptop to do a good amount of sound editing. Little to none 3D gaming will be done on this laptop.

Qualitative Requirement
In the order of importance...

1.Screen: Because of the excel and sound editing work, I can't bare working on a small screen. Therefore, the screen must be at least 14" with WXGA or above, with glossy-type screen.
2.Reliability: As mentioned above, a repair-free laptop is highly valued.
3.Weight: less than 6.5lb (I kinda used ASUS M6N as a reference of the max. weight I can tolerate.)

There are certainly other features I would like to have a laptop, but the above ones are the most important to me.

Spec of laptop
-Pentium M 1.6Ghz (Sonoma)
-512MB (1 stick) DDR1 RAM
-Intel 915GM Express Video
-40GB HD
-15.4" WXGA TruBrite
-DVD/CD-RW
-Microsoft Windows XP Pro
-1 Year International Warranty

Exterior
Upon opening the box, you can immediately see the silver color finish of the Tecra A4. Aside from the silver colored lid, the theme is all black once you open it up. The layout is very much the same as Toshiba other laptops, where there are a couple of convenient shortcut keys to the left of the keyboard. On the A4, below the power button, there are the Toshiba service assitant key and the "presentation" key. As far as I can tell, though I haven't tried it out, this button lets you switch into a presentation mode, whereby you connect your laptop to a projector.
The keyboard has a rather soft feel, but the travel of the keys is satisfactory. This is certainly not as firm as the IBM ThinkPad. The layout of the keyboard is undoubtedly weird! The "delete" key is located beside the space bar and so is the "~" key. These are, in my opinion, the major flaws of the keyboard and it will certainly take some time to get used to.

On the other hand, I find the layout of all the ports around the edges of the laptop very well-thought and convenient. Starting off from the front edge, you can a card reader (SD, Smart Media etc), headphone plug, microphone plug, a volume dial, and the WiFi on/off button. The card reader has a little sliding door, which is kind of neat, to keep dirt from getting in. As for the USB ports, which I believe almost all of us frequently use, are located on both sides of the laptop; one on the left, two on the right. The ports are positioned vertical and spaced apart just enough so that you will be able to use plug two devices in without blocking the other port.

Screen
The TruBrite is marvelous! The LCD is evenly lit and when it is very very bright. It has 8 level of brights and when working in front of the laptop, I set it at level 5 to avoid my eyes getting strained. I have yet to watch DVD on this machine but I could imagine it would look superb with setting at full brightness. Overall, I'm very satisfied with the TruBrite screen and this is the major reason I picked Toshiba. It also has a very large viewing angle. Multiple people looking at the screen at the same time would not be a problem at all.

Performance
Initial impression is very good in terms of its performance. When compared to my desktop computer (AMD A64 2800+, 512MB, Asus K8N-E), the Tecra A4 is just as fast. Note that, this is only a subjective and early impression as I have only used the laptop for two days. I would elaborate on this department later on after I have used it for some time.

Toshiba installed a pile of softwares that in my opinion are not necessary and will slow down the computer. There are around 15 active programs shown beside the windows' clock. It takes a while to uninstall them.

Overall, I'm quite satisfied with the quality of this laptop. Please excuse this brief review. Pictures will be uploaded on Tuesday. I'll certainly come back in a week or so to update and post a more in-depth review.

[smilepak]

This is sweet!!! I can't wait for more info. I've been a Toshiba fan for years. My last 3 laptops, 2 of them were Toshiba. Both Satellite Pro model, haven't had the chance to have Tecra yet.

But how Toshiba line up their model original, the Satellite Pro model is supposed to be the middle ground between Tecra and the Satellite series.

They've been great. Actually to rethink I had 4 laptops. The other two were IBM T22 and Gateway something. hehehe

[Fer]

Today is Wednesday!

[sorry, cannot resist it, just kidding... :lol: ]

[thestateimin]

Fer is just excited to see the pictures....hehe

[reflexmee]

Sorry for the delay!
Pictures are up! Here's the link

http://photobucket.com/albums/y5/reflexmee/

I don't know why I just could not get a nice and clear shot of the TruBrite screen (I guess it's my lack of photography skills :lol: )
There's a lot of noise on the screen pics; if you want to get a true sense of how the screen is like, I'm sure you could go to your local electonic store to check it out :mmm:

Feel free to post any question/concern here; I will check back as often as I could.

Enjoy!
Kenneth

[smilepak]

hmm can't see picture have to log in?

[reflexmee]

Sorry, I didn't realize it requires login to view the pictures.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

[Fer]

Sorry, I didn't realize it requires login to view the pictures.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

Can't you link the album to access 'from outside' (instead of having to log in to update an album, that you DON'T WANT us to do) like "http://img.photobucket.com/albums/..."?

Checking the site I don't think it requires to login to see the pictures (from FAQ @ http://photobucket.com/faq.php)
Q: How do I allow friends & family to view my album?
A: In your "account options" you can make your album public or you can set a read-only password.

Q: Can I make only some of my albums public?
A: No. At this point your account options are globally set on your album.

[smilepak]

Where is the pictures :P

[reflexmee]

Sorry guys, it should work now, WITHOUT having to login

http://photobucket.com/albums/y5/reflexmee/

[Mouseman]

Thanks for the pics and review! Looks like a pretty good looking notebook, but the power and those other buttons appear to be in a weird place. :confused:

[Flunar]

Nice pics. Where'd you get that desktop? Sweet 911 pic.

[Fer]

Thank you for the pictures. They're very good! (considering your "photography skills") :lol:

Cheers

Fer

[HKINGS]

Hey Reflexmee...

How is the sound output from the speakers? Are they Harmon Kardon like the satellite series? How clear and loud are they?

All info is truly appreciated!

Thanks!

[smilepak]

Very nice pictures. Thanks!

I like the fact you've stacked the 3CD cases against to give a nice perspective on the thickness of it.

[smilepak]

Hey Reflexmee...

How is the sound output from the speakers? Are they Harmon Kardon like the satellite series? How clear and loud are they?

All info is truly appreciated!

Thanks!

Hmm that is a good question. I don't think so, I would assume they will use that as an advertisement point. Harmon Kardon manufacture pretty solid speakers and AMP systems

[Parabellum]

Does it have an ExpressCard slot, or is it blocked off like the M45?

[775]

thanks for putting up the pics

[g00nter]

Does it have an ExpressCard slot, or is it blocked off like the M45?

according to the specs it has an express card 34 or 54 compaible slot

[flashram]

How is fan noise and heat output?

[inotocracy]

I just ordered one of these bad boys from Newegg, whats the battery life like? They say 3 and a half hours with the standard 6cell battery and 6 or so with the 12 cell. Also, the panel that holds the power button and the two other buttons under it to the left of the keyboard-- is that removable? It seems so bland with only three buttons, I wish they would have done something more with the additional space available.

[reflexmee]

Hey Reflexmee...

How is the sound output from the speakers? Are they Harmon Kardon like the satellite series? How clear and loud are they?

I believe they are not Harmon Kardon speakers because otherwise they would have made it a advertising point. As this is my first laptop, I do not really have a benchmark to compare to in terms of the speakers quality. Best way to describe them is that they are clear on low-medium volume, but once you push it to the max, the clarity deteriorates rapidly. I tried connecting the headphone plug to a set of external speakers and they work just fine. When I was looking for a laptop, I did not really pay much, if any, attention to the quality of the speakers because that was not on my "needs" list. Sorry if this doesn't quite help you.

Does it have an ExpressCard slot, or is it blocked off like the M45?

It does have a Expresscard slot located on the left edge of the laptop and it is not blocked off.
How is fan noise and heat output?
Longest I have used this machine on my lap with seting at full power was a little more than an hour. It doesn't get really hot. I had no problem having it resting on my lap for that hour.
As for fan noise, with power setting to "work", which is usually what I use everyday in my university's library, fan noise is almost non-existent. The only time the fan noise is noticeable is when I plug the AC adapter in and the laptop automatically goes into "full power" mode. Overall, I consider this a very quiet machine.

I just ordered one of these bad boys from Newegg, whats the battery life like? They say 3 and a half hours with the standard 6cell battery and 6 or so with the 12 cell. Also, the panel that holds the power button and the two other buttons under it to the left of the keyboard-- is that removable? It seems so bland with only three buttons, I wish they would have done something more with the additional space available.

With the setting at "long life", I get about 3 hours flat until it warns me. With my typical usage, (ie. setting at "work" mode, screen brightness at 3/8, WiFi on, doing some office work + surfing the internet), I get about 2.5 hours before I need to recharge. In fact, I thought about the 12-cell battery when I was buying, but did not really want to inrease the size and weight of the laptop. So I just sticked with the regulat 6-cell.
As per the the panel to the left of the keyboard, I do agree that it looks kinda bland. As far as I could tell, it is not removable, although I have yet to try it. The two buttons are quite handy because they are customizable to serve as a shortcut key to run any program. I set one of them to run Mozilla Firefox and the other I haven't changed anything yet.


Again, keep the questions coming. Sorry for the delay in answering all the questions, as I have been very busy these few weeks. I will do an update and on my review and probably take some more pics tomorrow because the Shinza case I ordered will be arriving tomorrow. Stay Tune. :)

Cheers,
Kenneth

[775]

thanks for the update Kenneth

[reflexmee]

thanks for the update Kenneth

You are most welcome! :)

[EWB]

Anyone have a review of the Sonoma Tecra A4? Specifically with the Nvida 6600?

Thanks...

[inotocracy]

Anyone have a review of the Sonoma Tecra A4? Specifically with the Nvida 6600?

Thanks...

I believe all A4s are Sonomas.

[Parabellum]

I recently got my A4 w/ the 6600 dedicated graphics. I'll type up a review when I have some free time.

[Fer]

Beware! I got my A4 (PTA40E-01600VEN) in the UK, and it doesn't make sense to consider it a Sonoma-technology machine.

Yes, it do has the Sonoma processor/chipset (Pentium M 730, PM915) but:
. no DDR2 support (standard PC2700 DDR)
. no Express Card support
. the 16x PCI Express does not make a difference against standard AGP if you are dealing with a value graphics card (ATI x300)

By the way:
. wireless b/g (no a)
. no bluetooth
. 4200 RPM harddisk
. standard WXGA widescreen (no Trubrite or higher resolution)
. reduced battery life

So I guess you can save some money by buying a Dothan-technology lappy on sale...

[Be aware that the specs change from country to country, so always pay attention to the part numbers]

[EWB]

I purchased a Tecra A4 and I'm waiting for it to ship. This Just In Time economy kind of sucks. :)

A4 - 2.0 Intel
1 GB RAM PC2700
6600 card
60 gig HD (4200 RPM)
Tru Brite
A/B/G - wireless
12 Cell Battery

And it still hasn't shipped... I picked this over the Sony as I couldn't get ADP from SONY... I was hoping someone had a similar config and could tell me how it is?

One more question, does anyone know if the RAM is upgradable to DDR 400?

[g00nter]

Apparently it is upgradable to DDR400 but NOT DDR2 400 Check out the folllowing thread: http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=73550

[smilepak]

Apparently it is upgradable to DDR400 but NOT DDR2 400 Check out the folllowing thread: http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=73550

That is correct, you could use DDR400 in there, not DDR2-400. Which is a totally different voltage and pin configuration.

With Sonoma, you have an advantage of using DDR400 and higher vs older platform Centrino. As the bus will be able to take advantages of the faster memory.

The new chipset 915 allow the bus to be 533Mhz bus. Thus at

DDR-333 PC2700, it is running @ 333Mhz
DDR-400 PC3200, it is running @ 400Mhz
DDR-533 PC4200, it is running @ 533Mhz

So as you can see, faster DDR not only have better latency vs DDR-II for the time being, it will be able to be fully utilized to the potential due to the sonoma chipset.

So there is an arguementive factor that has been out there for awhile, DDR or DDR-II for sonoma.

Most places will say, DDR-II starts off where DDR left off. But that was when the introduction of DDR-II originally and DDR was at max PC3200. On the desktop side, the DDR have gone above DDR-533 and into DDR-600ish zone. So, with that, is it still better to use DDR-II anymore? In the desktop sense, not really, but DDR-II have room for move improvement.

Keep in mind that DDR-II is at a beginning stage. Just like every new technology, all beginning stages are always lack certain things and as time progress companies will be able to refine it more. Just like DDR when it was first released.

[EWB]

Thanks for the info...

[Fidget]

smilepak is right on that one. but in real life most useres will never know the difference between the regular ddr and ddr2 laptop ram. it is only the real power useres who will know the difference.

[gozi]

I have a question about the A4. Is the "truebright" or whatever screen glossy, or just high contrast? I'm not sure if I need a glossy screen, but it does have more brightness... Anyhow, What do you think about it after having it?

Do you get any "sparke" when you use a pure bright green or white background?

Also, will it run the 3200 ram dual channel if you get 2 sticks of it? How will you know if it does, btw :)

[EWB]

Okay folks...

The A4 has arrived. This thing is beautiful and I will do a full review. However, I need some help from some of you...

I don't want all of the crap that toshiba ships it with. So I went ahead and created the recovery disks and I did a fresh install of XP pro and now I'm wondering what's the minimum I need to get this thing working without all of the Toshiba Crap Software.

If anyone has done this for an A4 and can tell me what I need that would be great.

Thanks,
EWB

[Parabellum]

I have a question about the A4. Is the "truebright" or whatever screen glossy, or just high contrast? I'm not sure if I need a glossy screen, but it does have more brightness... Anyhow, What do you think about it after having it?

Do you get any "sparke" when you use a pure bright green or white background?

Also, will it run the 3200 ram dual channel if you get 2 sticks of it? How will you know if it does, btw :)

Yes, its the shiny screen. It's friggin' brighter than my CRT! I'm certainly happy. And it has no sparkles.

I'm writing a review too.

Status: Partially typed, pictures already taken, still testing some stuff.

[g00nter]

Nice!!

Please try to include in your reviews things like fan noise, battery life (with power saving functions and WIFI activated and without) and heat. I'm savin' my pennys in order to get one and want to get as much info on it as I can!

Enjoy the lappy

[digiduck]

My A4 just shipped today, I'll be getting it by this weekend. I got:

Tecra A4
6gb 4200rpm HD
512 ram
15.4" WXGA Trubrite display
1.73 Ghz pentium M
b/g wireless
6 cell battery

This is actually a Toshiba credited replacement for my old Tecra S1 that was no good (to put it lightly) - hopefully this system will be better. :cool:

[Fer]

OK. Here you have my full review of a Tecra A4 (UK model): http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2299.

Enjoy? :scratch:

[adski]

Anyone have any opinions on the differences between these two? They seem pretty similar in price and features.

-thanks

[g00nter]

In a nutshell, the main difference is that the the A4 has a 15.4" wide aspect screen and the S2 has a 15" regular aspect screen, the S2 has a s-video out port (it doesn't look like the A4 does) and the A4 has a express card (supposed to replace the pc-cards in the not to distant future) slot (at least in US models) while the S2 doesn't.

Also, you can order a S2 with a faster 5200 or 7200 rpm hard drive while the A4 you can only order with a 4200 (but that doesn't mean you can't get one elsewhere and pop it in), there are some difference in the lower end graphics card options between the two (the avail option on the a4 are: Intel integtrated w/ up to 128mb shared emmory, ATI X600 w/ 64MB or NVidia 6600 w/ 128mb, whil the S2 options are: ATIx300 w/32mb, Nvidia 6600 w/64mb or the same w/ 128mb), the S2 you can get with or without bluetooth and the A4 does not offer bluetooth. Other than that they are pretty similar in the rest of the options and specs... but I may be missing something

[crazy_johny]

smilepak is right on that one. but in real life most useres will never know the difference between the regular ddr and ddr2 laptop ram. it is only the real power useres who will know the difference.


is there a noticeable difference between 333mhx and 444mhz ddr memory?

[Fidget]

youd probably see more difference there than between the ddr and ddr2.... but even then its not huge alot depends on timings of the ram and the rest of the computer its put in.

[g00nter]

Agreed. But if you're looking into upgradiong the ram in a laptop you have (i'm guessing an A4 since you posted in this thread) you will see better performance my matching two sticks of ram in order to make use of dual channeling. For example, if you now have 333, get another 333 with the same latencies and it by dual channelling it sould (theoretically) run at 333x2, however since the FSB is only 533, it will run at 533.

[Fidget]

thats the theory... for the absolute best performance with your ddr you could get two sticks of ddr 400 with the same latency (dual channeling afterall) which would provide the absolute best level of performance possible for you. they can be had for not too bad a price through places like newegg if your in the states. or through the manufacturer like crucial, or corsair, or kingston directly.

[crazy_johny]

Ok thanks... unfortunatly I do not have any laptop as of now :( haha but I am purchasing one for school in the next little bit. If I go with toshiba is will be the A4 or A5, or with Asus the W3V or z70v.

I have always known Toshiba's as excellent service and quality, but I feel if I take a risk with the Asus I can grab a better laptop. It will have to come down to the supplier I suppose.

(As someone who needs battery life, widescreen, and solid quality, are my choices of an A5/A4 the best of what I can get from Toshiba? I am in Canada btw)

Thanks!

[Fidget]

what kind of a budget do you have?

[BeanTownMH]

I'm in the same boat as the user above.

For me its come down to the Asus Z71v and Tecra A4.


The specs I want are

1.7 ghz - 2 ghz
geforce 6600 128 mb
1 gig ram
60-80 gigs, preferably sata

but I want a WXGA because of the font size, and I run games at lower resolution (prefer frame rate)

problem for me is, the asus is cheaper, but you cant get it with an xga, and you can only customize the toshiba at toshiba.com (from what I can find) and it costs a lot.


any help?

[crazy_johny]

well budget it probably about 3k$ Canadian. ( A family member has sugested they would like to buy me a laptop, hence the higher budget, but because of this, I fell to not waste their money a TOSHIBA will be the best buy.)

So I need portability, battery life, dedicated video card from the laptop, and from the manufacturer I need reliability, and a solid warranty.

From what I can read, the Tecra A4 & A5 are by far the best for what I need. I'd like to have a widescreen aspect, and either 14 or 15 inch. The Satelleite (sp? haha) M40 was looking really good, until I heard stories of it's battery life.

As we stand right now, im leaning heavily towards the Tecra a5.

other choices are:

ASUS z70v
Dell Lattitude d810

any thoughts or ideas on this matter would be great! Also does anyone know if any big discounts happen with toshiba's for back to school specials?

[composer11]

Hi there, thinking about one myself...now they seem to be offering them with X600.

Anyway, would one of you mind (if you have a second) to look in control panel>system>hardware>device manager>then view, and then scroll to resource by connection? (IRQ)

I am interested in the following info: IRQ for graphic card and what number and if other IRQ;s share that same IRQ and the FIREWIRE type, if it's iLINK or texas instrument, or texas instrument complient...

The paper work (Toshiba website) says Ilink but at the store last night they all said Texas Instrument complient or Texas Instruments.

Thanks, this means a bunch to me for future audio use.

thanks again.

[Fidget]

should be a very nice machine and i hope that they have what you are looking for in it...there may be some back to school sales in august too but i would not expect like the 35%off dell deals.

[composer11]

I am interested in the following info: IRQ for graphic card and what number and if other IRQ;s share that same IRQ and the FIREWIRE type, if it's iLINK or texas instrument, or texas instrument complient...

The paper work (Toshiba website) says Ilink but at the store last night they all said Texas Instrument complient or Texas Instruments.

Thanks, this means a bunch to me for future audio use.

thanks again.

Anyway, would one of you mind (if you have a second) to look in control panel>system>hardware>device manager>then view, and then scroll to resource by connection? (IRQ)



Thanks a bunch!!!

[composer11]

Actually, for that matter, anyone with a laptop and ATI X300/600/700 should probably have the same settings (IRQ).

again, Merci Danke Grazie Σας ευχαριστούμε Вы Gracias Dank u

[EWB]

Has anyone else noticed how hot the A4 gets while running games? Anyone have a cooling suggestion.

Also, has anyone ever used either RMClock or Centrino Hardware Control? If so which do you recommend...

Thanks,
EWB

[Fidget]

centrino hardware control i have heard good things about... dont use it myself because i have a p20 and it is not a centrino, and the times i do use other lappy's i dont end up with them usually long enough to really want to mess with the thermal stuff.

as for how to cool it faster, i would say get a laptop cooling pad. they are cheap and will do the job very nicely. should really help you keep it cool while gaming. although it will still get warm it will be better.